The Corinthian BY Heyer

This is another of Heyer's earlier works. Richard Wyndham is expected to marry a young woman who has been intended for him since childhood, and he nerves himself to make a formal proposal. However Melissa Brandon is haughty and cold and off putting and clearly does not like him but she makes it clear that she will marry him because he is rich. So he shies away from the proposal and puts it off. On his way home from his club, he is drunk and is surprised when a boy jumps out of a window into his arms. He finds that it is not a boy but a girl of 17 or so. Penelope is boyish, and also is being pressured into marrying one of her cousins, since she has a large fortune. Richard agrees to help her escape and go to the country where her family house is located. She was childhood sweethearts with a young lad there and tells Richard she would rather marry this young man, Piers Lutterell. Richard and Pen travel to the country where they solve a murder mystery and Pen discovers that her old friend is now in love with Lydia Daubenay, a more girly sort of girl, and he wants to marry her. Piers elopes with Lydia, and Richard and Penelope also plan to marry.